1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a computer input device and process that includes a computer mouse with an actuatable button that, when activated, instructs the computer system to which the computer mouse is connected to access an Internet web page, domain name, or URL address stored within the computer mouse. In other embodiments of the present invention, the computer input device incorporates a unique promotional housing design with the ability to have the computer mouse preprogrammed to allow the user of the computer mouse to quickly access an Internet web page that corresponds to the promotional design of the computer mouse housing.
2. Related Art
Computer systems require three primary components. First there must be a computer processing unit (CPU) that contains the computing hardware, operating software, and storage devices. Second, there must be a device by which the computer can communicate with the user. This generally takes the form of monitoring display device such as a cathode ray tube (CRT) or some other form of graphic display component. Additionally, other output devices such a printers are used. Finally, there must be at least one input device that allows the computer user to input commands and information to the CPU. For example, keyboards are an ideal method of inputting alphanumeric characters to the computer for most applications. Other input devices such as joysticks are used with computer games to provide two-dimensional position signals based on wrist movement.
The computer mouse, however, is the most predominant input device and is used with virtually every computer in operation today. In fact, the use of a “mouse” as a manually moveable and operated graphic user interface (GUI) to control computers has become so widespread as to be nearly universal.
A computer mouse is essentially a pointing device that can include elements such as trackballs or a housing partially enclosing a rotatable ball. The common computer mouse also has one or more actuatable buttons. Electronic encoders sense the rotation of the trackball or rotatable ball to generate signals that control the two-dimensional movement of a cursor or pointer on the display screen of the computer. While earlier designs of the computer mouse utilized rotatable balls that drive encoders to generate positional signals to the computer system, recent designs utilize optical components that generate positional signals for the computer system by sensing the movement of the computer mouse across a surface.
In addition to the one or more actuatable buttons, most current computer mice also use a rotatable wheel located near the actuatable buttons. These rotatable wheels provide the computer mouse with the capability of providing a three-dimensional position signal that permits the illusory positioning of the cursor in three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional video display device. These wheels not only rotate about an axle, but are also commonly capable of being momentarily depressed to provide various input signals to a computer to control not only three-dimensional positions of an object, but other options or attributes for that object. Because the most common application of the rotatable wheel is to allow for the up or down scrolling of a document or image shown on the computer monitor, the rotatable wheel is commonly known as the “scroll wheel.”
Therefore, the standard computer mouse provides a tool that is capable of sending a wide variety of signals to the computer processing unit of a computer system.